Oro Valley P.D. welcomes new K-9 friend

Oro Valley P.D. welcomes new K-9 friend

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - He's three years old, about 75 pounds, and believe it or not, he speaks Dutch!

His name is Max, and he may be all about playing around now, but he means business.

"I also have seen the side of him where when he has to turn on his police mode, it's on," Lt. Kara Riley, spokesperson for Oro Valley Police told Nine On Your Side.

Officer Roger Reynolds spends 24 hours a day, seven days a week with Max, training him to be Oro Valley's next narcotics-sniffing dog, and although he's not there yet, his job is about to get very serious.

"Right now, we're currently working with the four major narcotics which is marijuana, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine," Reynolds told us.

Oro Valley police hope Max will help them, along with other law enforcement agencies like the D.E.A., sniff out drug smugglers making their way through the area.

"This is a major thoroughfare through our community, and having the dogs out there to help deter that, and deter those individuals from going through our community is huge."

And the numbers show, they're doing their job.

In Oro Valley alone, their two K9 drug units uncovered just under 2,000 pounds of marijuana, over six grams of heroin, 26.5 pounds of cocaine, and over $28,000 in cash last year.

But bad guys, beware, because in just over a month, Max could land you straight in the doghouse.

Liz Kotalik

Liz Kotalik is so proud to work in her home state of Arizona with her KGUN9 family. She anchors the 7 a.m. morning show "GMT Extra" on the CW Tucson every weekday, and also reports for later newscasts.

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